ga-rei : zero

GA-REI : ZERO
studio : AIC Spirits, asread
director : Ei Aoki
serial run : October 5, 2008 - December 21, 2008
total episodes : 12
score : *****

STEP ASIDE MAKINA, YOMI'S HERE TO STAY

okay so what's the significance of the above line you ask ? well i just happen to blurt it out when i first get to watch the anime adaptation of ga-rei as both series [ the other one being shikabane hime of course ] shares the same theme and concept in plot and storytelling; nothing THAT identical but you can pretty much sniff out the similarities between the two right from the start.

anyway, ga-rei : zero is a 'two-thumbs-up-absolute-win' supernatural action series which primarily serve as the dramatic prequel to the ongoing manga series of the same franchise / genre - the enchained spiritual beast ga-rei - by hajime segawa; and though the anime adaptation were initially hinted to be made of completely original characters and story [ independent of the manga ] it actually tells forth events that predates the current timeline of the manga as well as thoroughly elaborates on the tragic backstory of yomi isayama of who, within the first three volumes of the tankobon served as the manga's main antagonist for the 'yomi arc'.

the series opens magnificently with the fast-paced introduction of the 4th division-whatever [ them peeps in the orange suits ] which completely fools the audience into believing / accepting them as the main cast of the so-called-alternate-story, especially with flashy displays of all those adrenaline-packed action sequences [ natsuki's bike-fu = srs'ly awsm ] before the so-assumed specialized / ace team were soon being mailed to hades 'guro-legantly' by none other than yomi herself. what a groundbreaking twist for the very first episode i must say. two episodes later and we were finally enlightened with the revelation of ga-rei : zero being a prequel to what we have read in the manga.

the story is way much darker than those found in the manga with more depth were being explored from the characters of kagura and yomi respectively; and among the many strength of the anime is the prized chemistry shared between the two 'sisters' especially prior to yomi's corruption to sesshōseki and moments when she addressed her true will to the stone [ to completely remove anything that would bring sadness, tragedy and misfortune upon kagura... including herself ] and accepted her death at the blade of her beloved sister kagura. thanks to her magnificent role [ as a tragic heroine ] in the story, yomi's character completely won my heart and thus when she was forced to the brink of despair and were finally deceived by the fukken brat mitogawa i almost had myself drown in tears.

i can pretty much tell that the character design were done by the same artist who did bakuretsu tenshi and full metal panic : the second raid, most noticably from the way the eyes and mouth were drawn... +not to mention the first frame of the ending animation mirrors the one seen in the second raid; a direct nod to the said series maybe :3

overall, ga-rei : zero shoves forth superb production quality from the magnificent art direction, cinematography / animation down to the musical score heard in the background. the entirety of its action sequences were superbly executed and choreographed [ wheelchair-fu anyone ? ] followed by strong, comprehensive story and emotionally engaging drama. the plot also provides enough substance and space for the characters and story to grow and breathes in organically and personally i find it to be much more appealing than the manga it was based from. also, there's the adequate balance between the darker, serious plot and the lighter, heartwarming comedies to complete the magic of the story, so if you're a fan of serious animes like darker than black, mnemosyne -mnemosyne no musume tachi- etc then i megassa believe that this one indeed is the best choice for you to greatly consider upon^^

p/s : +100 on the sisterly yuri + pocky-ss >///>

asu no yoichi !

ASU NO YOICHI !
studio : AIC
director : Rion Kujo
serial run : January 8, 2009 - March 26, 2009
total episodes : 12
score : ***

CHIVALRIC SAMURAI HAREM

i came to pick this one up around a few days ago and finally were able to conclude my full marathon of it earlier this morning, nevertheless it was an entertaining feat though weren't much crazy as seto no hanayome.

the story premise is quite simple yet hilariously entertaining [ for a generic harem ]; a [ seemingly naive ] young 'samurai' who lives in the deepest of the mountains were told by his only parent [ dad ] to descend and seek more [ social ] experience in the cities under the sense of 'advanced training' though in actuality the father no longer had anything left for him to teach upon his over-achieving son. the socially inexperienced son, named yoichi then heads for the city for a rendezvous with the ikaruga family yet found himself caught in a series of lol-able mishaps aroundtown before were soon being taken into hospitality by ibuki and her sisters.

the main protagonist yoichi is a mildly interesting character himself especially for an harem like this, surrounded by four distinctively interesting ikaruga sisters, each of which were imbued with adequately unique personality that stood out from each others within the family; ibuki is the maternal figure of the sisters though she often expresses a much violent side from time to time [ kozue aoba of mahoraba heartful days anyone ? ], ayame is the tsundere of the family who holds a one-sided rivalry with the seemingly perfect ibuki yet not without a sweet and highly adorable personality, chihaya is the mischievous 15 years old who's also an accomplished young mangaka with quite a comprehensive knowledge over things that's been going around the house and lastly kagome is the youngest sister who mostly took care of all the house chores, and despite being a loli possesses quite a winning pair of bosoms that even outmatched those of ayame's. character growth[s] were kinda less noticable in the series except for ayame and wa-san who seems to progress much from how they were earlier in the story.

the overlying general theme of the series centered upon the values of a family, especially faith and trust among the family members; a point that were often being highlighted by the main man yoichi himself. and if you find series such as clannad, binbou shimai monogatari and kanon [ just to name a few ] appeals much to your taste then asu no yoichi ! might as well be made a good choice for your viewing pleasure.

the anime generally had the [ visual ] feel as if i were watching a series that was produced in the early 00's probably due to the colour pallette chosen for both the back ground and the foreground, and the character design were simply lovely much to my personal liking; among the reasons why i came to be interested upon digging into this. the entire execution / production may not be as significant / magnificent as those seen from studios like kyoani, shaft or j.c. staff yet it is not as disappointing as what xebec had done for to love-ru [ tv ] or what madhouse had crapped out for the [ supposedly awesome ] kaibutsu oujo. overall the anime has quite entertaining plot [ again, for a generic harem show ], good comedic moments and thoughtful messages woven into its architecture; i haven't read the manga yet however i do sincerely find this anime to be quite a worthy [ light ] entertainment for my prized weekends.

needless : [ not so ] first impression

NEEDLESS
studio : Madhouse
director : Masayuki Sakoi
serial run : July 2, 2009 - ongoing
total episodes : ?

TWO WORDS, DAMN GAR

okay, sincerely needless feels as if i were watching a crossbreed between the garlicious tengen toppa gurren lagann [ the super-exaggerated comedy and action sequences ], fist of the north star [ post-apocalyptic struggle ], slayers [ eve = polymorphic lina inverse ? ] and darker than black [ there's a slight taste of it lingering in the plot ]. do a gattai of all these inside your head and you'll get the kind of story needless is.

the story premise of the series intensely provokes my interest since i used to love reading fist of the north star manga back when i was a kid, not to mention the babelicious eve who rocks bigtime in her loincloth pounding her enemies megassa time [ even without the aid of the main man adam ] got the fan deep down inside me screaming in a great fit of rage :3 the plot unfolds very neatly even with the abundance of comedies and the general backstory of both the timeline and locales [ black spot ] were established very early much to my enjoyment.

also i greatly love the character design which sports the kind of far future seen from the eyes of the 80's / early 90's, not to mention the rockin' op which breathes in a great deal of gar-tastic aura into the story. to be frank, i used to despise madhouse for the crime they've done to kaibutsu oujo, namely the super-crappy plot / animation and the unresolved giga-cliffhanger end [ as with claymore ] yet however the studio slightly regain my interest / attention with the first two episodes of needlees i've seen atm, though i won't be putting my hopes high yet until i get to savor deeper into the final half of the series in the few more weeks to come.

bakemonogatari : [ not so ] first impression

BAKEMONOGATARI
studio : SHAFT
director : Akiyuki Shinbo
serial run : July 3, 2009 - ongoing
total episodes : 15

STAPLER-CHAN ANYONE ? :3

first of all i wonder where did hitagi fit all those stationeries seen over the first half of the first episode... hammerspace in my serious anime ? i greatly hope not.

...

okay so i just picked this one up around last night, particularly because 1.) it is done by shaft and 2.) i kinda fancy the art style seen in the original media enough to spark quite an interest for me to dig into this title. well i greatly thank the sucky i-net network of this area [ i'm living in ] for my delay in catching up wif the series.

[ ...not to mention a yui horie is a definite must have for me ]

anyway, bakemonogatari is a visually rich, near-complex anime with respectively 'two thumbs up' yet highly ambiguous art direction and a 'mildly difficult' approach in storytelling as often seen in most of shaft-produced series. what's more cool about bakemonogatari is that the female lead hitagi arms herself with a wide array of stationeries that is shown to be quite the lethal threat despite them being your recurring 'seemingly safe' everyday item [ behold, fear the stapler ! ], as well as her unique personality that is both engaging and disturbing at the same time [ not sure if i'd hit someone as unpredictable and random as her yet i wouldn't mind on doing so since she's quite the cutie >///> ].

well, i had nothing much to write yet since i need to experience 5-6 more episodes before i could sum my view and judgment over this one so i guess this is it for now... just look forward to the actual review by the time bakemonogatari ends its broadcast later. til then, have fun stapling your boyfriends for teh lulz.

princess lover ! : [ not so ] first impression

PRINCESS LOVER !
studio : GoHands
director : Hiromitsu Kanazawa
serial run : July 5, 2009 - ongoing
total episodes : ?

ELEGANT BOOBFEST AHOY !

perhaps this could be among the most interesting eroge adaptation ever produced though it is still much too early for me to judge it so, nevertheless it has already gave out a pleasantly good start which may as well impress those who weren't yet familiar with the game from which it is based upon. also, fans of harem / romantic comedy might find this series to be quite a delightful treat to their palate, with plenty of juicy 2D bishoujos covering some well-established anime archetypes [ princess, maid, tsuntsun... you name it :3 ] for them to choose upon.

since this is a mere 'first impression' post i sincerely would like to make it somewhat brief and short; plotwise the story of a plain-commoner-turns-rich-and-famed-aristocratic-brat were already a [ highly redundant ] cliche within the storytelling pool, however what makes this one so appealing to my interest [ though myself were already a fan of the original game / visual novel, much due to its art ] is how the male lead [ teppei arima ] introduced himself to the story; an opening scene that breathes in the same tone as a [ 'thoughtful' ] slice of life / emotionally-driven drama which later progresses on to the engaging road chase that resulted in his fated meeting with the bubbly princess charlotte as well as a clear peek into his exact personality. not to mention it turns out soon enough that he shares the same destiny as the super busty naeka fujiwara from the infamous gar-fest comedy 'kamen no maid guy'.

the overall camera works were pretty neat especially with how some angles were taken plus the art / design of them characters briefly reminds me of those seen in witchblade [ anime ] and dragonaut, most notably in how the hair and eyes were drawn [ and the boobs were highlighted lol ] though i weren't quite approval of it first... that is when compared to the original design seen in the original game.

spice and wolf 2 : [ not so ] first impression

SPICE AND WOLF II
studio : Brain's Base
director : Takeo Takahashi
serial run : July 9, 2009 - ongoing
total episodes : ?

HAS APPLE WILL TRAVEL

the second season of the highly beloved spicy wolf goodness took off with quite a [ very ] good start, much like how the initial season was although i wasn't quite moved with the new opening theme this time around [ the song indeed is good, yet tabi no tachuu however stood melodically supreme ]. the first two episodes once again revisited its clever yet distinctive [ economic / trade heavy ] plot / storytelling while in times shoved forth a delicious folklore taste as well as milking out a plenty more of the highly remarkable dynamic bonding / relationship between its two lead.

the adorably charming wise wolf goddess horo is still as playful as she always were with her ongoing constant teasing [ and 'seducing' ] of her business-conscious playmate 'caretaker' craft who still seems to be as dense as he was in both the first season and the ova. also much to the joy of horo's legion there is more than enough nice-get moments in the second season as well, especially in the scene were she got quite an hangover from the night before which is just brutally cute >///> by now some of us may have mutually agree that horo never was and never will a boring character, and that her distinctively unique personality will never tire us out no matter how much season will there be for the series :3

a [ possible ] spark of romance was already been hinted in the ova [ episode 0 ] which was released a few months prior to the airing of the second season, and is later hinted again in the first episode from the conversation shared between horo and craft, and due to this i am more interested to see how far it would go given the fact that the two were worlds distant from each other [ bestiality anyone ? :3 ].

the new ending theme simply turns me off as it kinda felt out of place with the general concept of the series [ sincerely i do think that they better stick with the warm, jazzy, nightly folk-ish feel heard from ringo hiyori ]; the accompanying slideshow however were still as delightful with ayakura-sensei's lovely art and sweet, mild comedic taste as usual. +i am much relieved that the new character design does not deviate much from kuroda-sensei's style which already fits in well with the feel and mood of the story.

[ cosplay ] zero inch : asuka langley shikinami

layer : Zero Inch
character : Asuka Langley Shikinami
series : Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0 -You Can [ Not ] Advance
score : ***

score less for the [ not so ] poorly made plugsuit, however i must praise her for being among the first to put on this newly designed test-plugsuit for my beloved asuka >///>. not sure if i get myself right here but i believe the lines on her pants were made of black marker pens which is a grave deal of turn off to me; it's tightness however scores half a point [ making her overall score went up from **1/2 to *** ] since that is how it should be for a plugsuit right ? well she had worn a much badly-constructed plugsuit before [ when compared to this one ] so it is somewhat to be expected.

[ all images property of mpzero ]

[ fig ] asuka langley shikinami : rebuild of evangelion

asuka revisited, though i greatly hope to see her in the newly introduced test-plugsuit [ or whatever the actual term is ] worn in the second installment of the rebuild tetralogy since we've already been shoved with numerous takes over this trademark plugsuit of her. however that doesn't mean that i have very little to no interest over this kotobukiya rendition of her.

before this the company has done a rei, set over a bust of her unit 00, that however was met with very little interest from me as i found alter's version to be much more appetizing [ who could resist a rei in her sexy lying pose ? i couldn't :3 ], however this recent asuka take of theirs manages to reconcile my attention over their works perhaps in due to the apparent sadamoto-sensei taste found in its design.

included with her is a bust of her unit 02 [ spoiler : in the 2.0 movie however the eva didn't remain solely exclusive to her ] over which she sat upon; at first i thought it was some kind of random rock or debris whatever, well shame on me.

[ fig ] kotonoha katsura : school days

another latest release from kotobukiya which caught my very attention; kotonoha katsura [ from the school days a.k.a. nice boat. fame ] came in both version of herself; the seemingly sweet, usual self of her and the infamous dead eyes [ read : yandere ] get seen in the intense part of the series. well, to be honest i wasn't quite a fan of kotobukiya's catalogue as i have mentioned over a few times before yet i find this and the asuka one to be very much well done, just like how i came to fell in love over their [ animal suit ] kannagi set.

those who greatly digs over yanderes might want to consider on having this one into their collection as i believe there aren't many figures done with that psychologically menacing dead-eyes seen on her alternate facial expression, well anyway please do correct me if i'm wrong :3